Cinnamon Maple Oatmeal

Cinnamon Maple Oatmealwith Apples + Peanut Butter

Happy first day of spring AND international happiness day, lovelies! I hope you enjoy this nutritious and delicious vegan oatmeal :)

What goes together better than cinnamon maple and apples? NOTHING. This is currently my go to oatmeal and it is SUPER easy to make. (huge plus cause i work a lot and am super lazy)

There are only three ingredients (five with apples + pb) and it is really good for you. The oats have fiber and with the cinnamon your metabolism gets a little rev. It's also not super sugary and is all natural (yay no chemicals!)

Cinnamon Maple Oatmeal

Serving Size: 1 bowl

Calories per serving: 288

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oats*

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp maple syrup

*I really like the gluten free whole oats, but I've been using Quaker 1 minute oats at work and they work equally as well.

Directions: 

1. Rolled Oats: 

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Add the oats and reduce the heat, stirring occasionally. Cook down until it's the consistency you want then remove from heat. Stir in cinnamon and maple syrup.

2. Instant Oats: 

Mix together 1 minute oats and cinnamon (since i bring it to work, i combine them in a sandwich bag and shake 'em up :) ). Put cinnamon oats in a bowl if they're not in one already and add hot water until it is the consistency you like, maybe a little more because the oats will absorb some of the water. You can add the maple syrup before or after the water (doesn't make a difference! :) )

3. Toppings:

Cut up an apple, spread some peanut butter on the pieces and throw them on top too complete this delicious apple cinnamon combination. You can use any fruit on top of there for some extra deliciousness and/or vitamins/antioxidants/nutrition.

Enjoy your oatmeal!

love always, 

xo

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Hello lovelies! For St. Patrick's Day I made some Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. For those who don't know, an Irish Car Bomb is a shot of Jameson (or whiskey) and a shot of Bailey's dropped into a pint of Guinness and chugged. Sounds classy, right? Okay maybe not so much, but I promise these boozy little delights are the epitome of class and alcohol. 

As a side note: I don't really like the name of  the drink/cupcakes. I feel like it is insensitive for people who actually had to live in fear of riots and car bombs.

Anyway, back to the food:

Here's some step-by-step photos so you can see what each of the stages look like. Enjoy, my little foodies xx

CUPCAKES

Bring butter and Guinness to a simmer

Have your curious pet watch your every move.

Whisk cocoa powder into Guinness butter.

Get a large bowl for the eggs and sour cream. Everything else is added to it.

Beat eggs and sour cream together.

Fold ingredients to completely combine.

Divvy batter.

Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.

GANACHE

After the hot cream and chocolate sit for a minute, stir it til smooth; then add butter and whiskey.

TA DA! Ganache.

Make truffles with any leftover ganache.

Cut out the centers of cooled cupcakes. Go about 2/3rds the way down.

Fill cupcakes with ganache

FROSTING

Whipped butter.

Bailey's frosting is complete.

Fill a piping bag and frost away.

Decorate however you see fit :)

 I literally tried each part of these cupcakes separately and I'm pretty sure I was getting tipsy from it. (I was non vegan for the latter half of the day). Everything was so delicious that they must taste amazing together.

Take lots of pictures and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

IRISH CAR BOMB CUPCAKE RECIPE

Guinness cupcakes with a Jameson whiskey ganache center and topped with a Baileys Irish Cream frosting.

yield: 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

Guinness Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Jameson Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Jameson

Baileys Frosting:
1 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
2.5 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

DIRECTIONS:

To Make the Cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. 
2. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. 
5. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. 
6. Divvy the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

To Make the Whiskey Ganache Filling: 

1. Finely chop the chocolate and put it in a heatproof bowl. 
2. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. 
3. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.
4. Using a the bottom of a large decorating tip, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes and fill  with ganache.

To Make the Bailey's Frosting: 
(Ingredients can be doubled for a higher icing peak)

1. Whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes until creamy and fluffy.
2. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. 
3. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

I would love to see any pictures or stories if you guys make these! They're actually super easy, I promise xx

love always, 

xo

Bagpipes and Clovers

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello lovelies <3 I hope you had a wonderful St. Paddy's (Paddy = Patrick; Patty= Patricia)

I've always loved St. Paddy's since I was a little kid. My parents play the bagpipes so I grew up around bagpipes, kilts, parades, and celtic traditions (Scottish, not Irish though). I've marched and danced in parades and we even have our own tartan.

When I was in grade school, my parents came every St. Patrick's Day to play the bagpipes for us. On a side note, Amazing Grace is probably THE saddest song on the bagpipes We would march around the school yard and pretend we were in an actual parade. I remember one year, I think I was 6 or 7, I taught a few of the girls how to do the highland fling (again, Scottish).

Have I proven how much fun St. Patrick's Day was for me growing up?

This year I went to New York (friday-sunday) to celebrate with some good Irish food, atmosphere, and of course, Guinness.

    

I stayed with one of my college roommates and we had a lot of fun. We relaxed on Friday and went out on Saturday. Saturday day, we went shopping in Herald Square. I got a few things that I am super excited about so look out for a haul video hopefully soon.

That night, we went to Connolly's on 45th St. (there are three different locations in midtown). It was SUPER busy (good thing we made a reservation). The host was a super pleasant balding Irish man and the rest of the staff was lovely. Our food was absolutely DELICIOUS and it came out super fast. 

The only negative thing (and it wasn't even that negative) was that neither the waiter nor the bartenders knew what a grasshopper drink was (or a thin mint, girl scout, or dirty girl scout). I had to tell the waiter what was in it and the bartender made it from. It was good for a first try, but not at all what it was supposed to be. It was served in a baby glass on the rocks... oh and it cost $10. Creme de Menthe and Creme de Cacao do NOT cost that much. Side note: why would you even have those two things on your alcohol shelves and not know how to make a classic old lady drink like a grasshopper?

Now that that rant is over, I would definitely go back or recommend Connolly's for the food and atmosphere. The architecture and decorations gave the feel of a legitimate pub atmosphere.

Jumping back to the present, I am making Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (based on the drink) today and bringing them to the bar. I'm not crazy about the name of the drink, but I hope the flavours of the cupcakes come together.

I'm going to leave you loves with an Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

The rain fall soft upon your fields

and until. we meet again

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

How do you spend your St. Paddy's Day?

love always,

xo

My Vegan Life

Hello lovelies!

I am really not doing well on this blogging consistently thing am I? Well here's a little post for you guys :)

Surprise I'm a VEGAN... well sort of. Let me explain:

It is officially the season of lent, which is when you give something up for 40 days, aka until Easter. Last year I went gluten free, which while a challenge in some aspects was not really so tough. Maybe I was just accustomed to it from living with my one friend in university since she was allergic to gluten.

Anyway, this year I wanted to do something way more challenging and I heard or read somewhere that some person lives their life being a vegan before 6 pm. So I decided to go with that. Then my sister said she was giving up dessert so I matched it. Then my dad basically said I should go big or go home so I recrafted my resolution again.

 Here it is!

 5 days a week I am a full vegan and no dessert. The other two I am only vegan til 6 PM. Also, no alcohol (except St. Patrick's Day weekend).

I decided that the vegan before 6 wasn't enough of a challenge, so full vegan it is. I would explode without dessert, so I decided to give myself something to look forward to. And the alcohol is really just an excuse not to drink haha. I'm not really a drinker anyway, but it gives me more of a reason to not drink. Since I work at a bar, this is definitely helps strengthen the resolve.


So that's really it. On a side note, I was thinking of doing a vlog every once in a while about being a vegan. Thoughts?

Let me know if you have any tips, suggestions, or want some of mine! Oh and please do tell me: What did you give up for lent?

love always,

xo